Kabataan Partylist Rep. (and friend of the blog) Mong Palatino has an interesting post up at his blog about the state of Philippine sports, after attending a summit organized by the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee. The post is chockfull of data, and is well worth reading in its entirety, but one part jumped out at me:

[PSC Chairman Richie Garcia] complained that sports bodies are too dependent on PSC funds. He blamed this on the poor support from private sector. In fact, only 5 percent of the Top 1,000 corporations in the country are into sports sponsorships. The PSC chairman added that private support exists when there is vested interest.

Continue reading "Pinoy sports and patronage"

If you were to believe Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) executive director Noli Eala’s tweets, the reason here’s no local television coverage of the ongoing 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games is because the government simply doesn’t care enough about Philippine sports. If the government actually bothered, Eala implies, then there would be no reason for everyone not to be able to watch our beloved Smart Gilas and the rest of our country’s athletes competing in the Asiad.

Continue reading "Why we couldn’t watch Smart Gilas (and other Filipino athletes) in the Asian Games"

The man in the picture is Graham Lim, the Secretary-General of the Basketball Association of the Philippines, and the Great Satan of Philippine basketball. He is the man responsible for putting the Philippines back on the road to international basketball perdition.

Continue reading "Philippine basketball's call to arms"

So maybe giving Manny Pacquiao a position as a government spy wasn't such a bad idea. Philippine Sports Commission Chairman Harry Angping on Friday announced plans for the government, including the Philippine Army (where Pacquiao is a reservist) and the Philippine National Police, to engage the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front in a boxing tournament.

Continue reading "Philippine government, Muslim rebels to settle their differences... in the boxing ring?"